Brothers Pat and Jack Issitt shine at King’s Lynn stock car meeting

F2 stock car drivers were in great form at King's Lynn on Saturday with Spalding-based racers taking half of the victories and also being involved in the most spectacular crashes.

The Issitt brothers delighted fans with some tremendous drives with Pat winning the meeting final and Jack taking the Grand National while Steve Wycherley had earlier won his heat.

Wycherley started things with a decent run in the White Top Whirlwind coming home in fourth place.

He went three spots better when the meeting started properly with a commanding drive which saw him take the chequered flag in his heat.

Charley Tomblin also qualified for the final in the same race with a third place finish with Jason Clow coming home in sixth spot.

Pat Issitt had to wait until a hectic consolation for his chance to qualify for the final where he came home in fifth spot with Daniel Vaughan finishing eighth.

Issitt's performance so far had given little indication of what was to come.

While Jack – who had rushed to finish his new car in order to put some laps in before the British Championship is contested at King's Lynn next week – failed to qualify for the final, Pat was simply sensational in it.

Once Pat took the lead from David Stevens five laps in he simply drove away and showed the rest of the pack a clean set of heels en-route to taking a hugely popular chequered flag with Wycherley also in the points after coming home in 10th place.

"I'm really happy," said Pat after the race.

"I have had a rough night up until this but in the final we got away and the car was really good.

"I got to the front and did a few laps and was hoping to see the five laps to go board and it was the halfway flag and I thought 'oh no' but I looked in my mirror and nobody was coming out of the pack.

"I kept on trying to keep Charlie a few cars behind and was trying not to get involved too much with the back markers and only passing them when I had to. Luckily I didn’t get tangled up."

Charley Tomblin is getting a reputation for being involved in big crashes at King's Lynn and was at it again in the final when he was punted into the fence hard and ended up with Cambridge’s Josh Rayner rolling underneath him with Tomblin ending up perched on top.

Come the Grand National, Jack Issitt finally had his new car on song and came through superbly from the back of the field.

He was having a superb race with Cheshunt's Charlie Guinchard and Brentwood's Charlie England before winning the race with a superb stock car manoeuvre which took both cars.

It was a sublime move and was the manoeuvre of the night.

Jack said: "We were catching the back markers and, when there was traffic, I kept getting back to the two Charlies but when there was a bit of open track they were starting to pull away.

"I saw an opportunity and in stock cars you have to go for it. I thought I had to put a bit of a show on and get a win after Pat won the final. I think that was one of the best moves I have done - I'm well happy with it."

Pat will also have been delighted with his performance in the Grand National.

The winner of the final had to start this race with a lap handicap and Pat drove brilliantly to come home in fifth place.

Mark Sargent stood aside in the F1 Stock Cars to allow son Finn to make his 2024 debut.

Finn is without an engine at the moment so Mark generously lent him his power plant to get the British champion on track.

A fifth place in his heat and seventh place in the final was a decent return for Finn's first F1 meeting of 2024.